Printers and methods for identifying a source of a problem therein

Abstract

A printer is provided. The printer has a printer body enclosing an interior, a screen, a camera, and a processor communicatively coupled to the camera. The screen overlies an exterior of at least a portion of the printer body. The camera is disposed within the interior and is configured to capture an image hereof. The processor is configured, by an analytical diagnostic software program, to display the captured image on the screen, thereby simulating a see-through view into the interior. Methods are also provided for identifying a source of a problem in the printer.

The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A printer having a printer body enclosing an interior, the printer comprising:
 a screen overlying an exterior of at least a portion of the printer body; 
 a camera disposed within the interior and configured to capture an image of a location within the interior; and 
 a processor communicatively coupled to the camera and configured, by an analytical diagnostic software program, to: 
 display the captured image on the screen, thereby simulating on the screen a see-through view through the exterior of at least the portion of the printer body and into the interior. 
 
     
     
       2. The printer according to  claim 1 , wherein at least a portion of the captured image displays a source of a printer problem, wherein the processor is further configured to visually highlight at least the portion of the captured image displaying the source of the printer problem on the screen. 
     
     
       3. The printer according to  claim 2 , wherein the processor visually highlights at least the portion of the captured image on the screen in a manner indicating a severity of the problem. 
     
     
       4. The printer according to  claim 2 , wherein the processor visually highlights at least the portion of the captured image on the screen by delineating the portion with a frame and visually highlighting the frame in a selected color indicating the severity of the problem. 
     
     
       5. The printer according to  claim 2 , wherein the captured image comprises a first level view of the source of the problem. 
     
     
       6. The printer according to  claim 2 , wherein the captured image comprises a first captured image and a second captured image, the first captured image comprising a first level view of the source of the problem and the second captured image comprising a second level view of the source of the problem. 
     
     
       7. The printer according to  claim 6 , wherein the display of the first captured image includes a function button indicating the availability of the second captured image. 
     
     
       8. The printer according to  claim 7 , wherein the processor displays the second captured image comprising the second level view in response to a user touching the function button. 
     
     
       9. The printer according to  claim 1 , wherein the captured image comprises a composited captured image comprising a plurality of captured images, wherein the processor is further configured to combine the plurality of images into the composited captured image comprising a first level view. 
     
     
       10. A method for identifying a source of a problem in a printer, the method comprising:
 displaying a captured image on a screen overlying an exterior of at least a portion of the printer body, the captured image comprising an image of a location within an interior of the printer such that the captured image, when displayed, simulates on the screen a see-through view through the exterior of at least the portion of the printer body and into the interior of the printer; and 
 visually highlighting at least a portion of the captured image on the screen, wherein the visually highlighted portion displays the source of the problem in the printer. 
 
     
     
       11. The method according to  claim 10 , wherein the captured image comprises a composited captured image comprising a plurality of images, the method further comprising combining the plurality of images into the composited captured image prior to displaying the captured image. 
     
     
       12. The method according to  claim 10 , wherein displaying a captured image comprises displaying the captured image comprising a first level view of the source of the problem. 
     
     
       13. The method according to  claim 10 , wherein displaying a captured image comprises displaying the captured image comprising a first captured image and a second captured image, the first captured image comprising a first level view of the source of the problem and the second captured image comprising a second level view of the source of the problem. 
     
     
       14. The method according to  claim 13 , wherein the display of the first captured image includes a function button indicating the availability of the second captured image comprising the second level view. 
     
     
       15. The method according to  claim 14 , further comprising:
 receiving a signal indicating that the function button has been touched by a user; and 
 in response to the signal, displaying the second captured image comprising the second level view. 
 
     
     
       16. The method according to  claim 10 , wherein the severity of the problem in the printer is shown by variations in the visual highlighting, the problem comprising an error or a near-error, the error being more severe than the near-error. 
     
     
       17. The method according to  claim 16 , wherein the severity of the problem shown by variations in the visual highlighting comprises delineating at least a portion of the captured image on the screen with a frame and displaying the frame in a selected color indicating the severity of the problem. 
     
     
       18. A method for identifying a source of a printer problem, the method comprising:
 displaying a first captured image on a screen overlying an exterior of at least a portion of the printer body, the first captured image comprising a first level view of at least a portion of an interior of the printer, the portion comprising the source of the printer problem; and 
 displaying a second captured image on the screen if a root source of the printer problem cannot be identified from the first captured image, the second captured image comprising a second level view of at least the portion of the interior of the printer. 
 
     
     
       19. The method according to  claim 18 , wherein the display of the first captured image comprising the first level view includes a function button indicating the availability of the second captured image comprising the second level view, the method further comprising:
 receiving a signal indicating that the function button has been touched by the user; and 
 in response to the signal, displaying the second captured image comprising the second level view, wherein displaying the first captured image and the second captured image simulates a see-through view into the interior of the printer. 
 
     
     
       20. The method according to  claim 18 , further comprising visually highlighting at least the portion of the first captured image, the second captured image, or both the portion of the first captured image and the second captured image. 
     
     
       21. The method according to  claim 20 , wherein visually highlighting at least the portion of the first image, the second image, or both the portion of the first image and the second image comprises visually highlighting in a manner to indicate a severity of the problem comprising an error or a near-error, the error being more severe than the near-error.